Family ZIPHIIDAE

(BEAKED WHALES)

• Medium-sized whales with spindle-shaped bodies and dorsal fins set two-thirds of the way along the body; adult males of most species have a single pair of tusks for male-male combat, and mostjuveniles and females functionally toothless.

• 400-1200 cm.

• Cosmopolitan, inhabiting all the world’s oceans.

• Deep oceanic waters from the ice edges to the tropics.

• 6 genera, 22 species, 22 taxa.

• No species threatened; none Extinct since 1600.